


Ghosts of Meetings Yet to Come

by arcadiaego



Category: Lost
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcadiaego/pseuds/arcadiaego
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.” - Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck</p><p>Post-finale, Hurley has a conversation with a familiar face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts of Meetings Yet to Come

If Hurley was honest with himself, he missed the ghosts. Not the part where they gave him confusing, life threatening tasks, nor the part where he met friends he'd thought he'd never see again, only to lose them once more within five minutes. But they would at least give him someone different to talk to. _Not that they ever did that much talking, not outside of the hospital anyway._ It wasn't that Ben refused to talk to him, more that he wasn't exactly a natural conversationalist. Their journey back to the island after helping Desmond leave (despite his new zen like calm, the Scot had still refused to set to sea alone with Benjamin Linus, and they needed the boat back) had set the tone for a lot of their exchanges - awkward at first, until Hurley had asked the other man about the book he'd been reading, and them more awkward after it turned out to be about two men somewhere in the Depression which seemed to involve a lot of people dying.

Hurley had never understood why people read books like that, but most of Ben's seemed to be of the same sort. He'd brought a few down to the beach where they had set up a temporary camp, neither wanting to shelter in the caves, which reminded them too much of recent events, or the barracks which were home to even worse memories. _And I guess I feel at home. Which is messed up._ Hurley had tried to explain to Ben how he had started writing something of his own, but it turned out that Ben was the only person on the planet who had never seen Star Wars. _What was the point of The Others having TVs if they never had movie night?_ Hurley grinned to himself at the idea of a trip to Ben's old house, trying to get the set to work and introducing him to Luke and Han. Though Darth Vader might be a bit of a touchy subject. Apart from literature, in the couple of weeks since Desmond they'd stuck mostly to Ben telling him what he knew of the history of the island, and the location and purpose of the various stations and other structures he knew about. Hurley had told him something about his own time on the island, although Ben seemed to know a lot of it already, and Hurley hadn't yet dared broach the subject of the 12 year old boy back in 1977. The rest of the time passed in what was probably Ben's version of companionable silence as they fixed up the camp or brought down supplies, Hurley sometimes chattering about whatever came to mind to not much of a response.

Ben was on a trip to the barracks right now, although his excuse as to why ("to see if there's anything more we might need") rang rather hollow in the face of their already ample stash. Hurley guessed that he really wanted to be alone up there, to spend time with the grave of his daughter. He supposed Ben could also be taking the opportunity to plot an evil takeover but for some reason he knew deep down that that wasn't ever going to happen. He knew it in the same way that he never forgot his way through the jungle any more, that he'd known where to find Jack's body, and that he knew the day Jack made Hurley like him had ensured there was no one else left on the island to trouble, or help them. He knew it like he knew that the reason the only thing they _had_ lost track of was Rose and Bernard's cabin was because it didn't want to be found.

_Jack makes me a superhero and my power is that I can see the present. Awesome._

 

So yeah, he missed the ghosts, he thought as he walked idly along the beach towards a rocky outcrop. He'd decided to spend the time until Ben returned fishing, more to occupy himself than because they needed food. He held a rod he'd made himself, after the way Jin had taught him. It felt good to do that, to use something passed down from someone who would never fish again himself.

 He was pulled up from this thought by the sudden realisation that there was someone sitting on the rocks ahead of him, someone he was sure hadn't been there a moment ago, and someone with a very familiar face. He had a moment of blind panic, before that same mysterious _knowing_ set in.

_He's gone. He can't come back here. This isn't him._

"Hello Hugo."

It wasn't just whatever Jack had done, or that these things had happened enough to Hurley in the past that he knew a ghost when he saw one. Somehow you could tell just by looking that this version of John Locke was not the one that Jack had pushed to his death just a few weeks ago.

"Um. Hi."

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

He was barefoot, dressed in cargo pants and a white shirt, looking for all the world as if he was taking a break from a relaxing coastal stroll. Pretty much like when Hurley had first met him, in fact. Before the whole knife throwing incident anyway. Not much like Hurley remembered him for most of the rest of their time on the island.

"I guess. I mean the sun is shining, birds are squawking, it's probably going to start raining and flood the camp out at any minute. Same as usual."

Locke smiled, and continued to gaze at the ocean. Hurley felt stupidly self conscious for a moment, as if he should put the rod down and sit down with him. But Locke had never exactly been the kind of man you felt at ease with. Plus, he knew how this went.

"Are you going to yell at me about something? Because I mean, I haven't had time to do anything yet, dude, and the stuff that happened with the island nearly exploding? Really not my fault."

"Why would I yell at you Hugo?" Locke turned to him, still smiling. That annoying half smile Hurley remembered, that meant he already knew the answer. Though it was a lot better than the one he remembered on the other man with the same face, the one that wasn't a smile at all.

"People usually do. When they're, like, dead. Or they ask me to do stuff."

"I'm sorry about that. Although I think you might find things go differently from now on."

"So...you just wanted to enjoy the view, or...?"

"No Hugo, though it is nice to see it again. I'm afraid I do have something to ask you."

_Great._

 

But John didn't seem in a hurry to get to whatever it was, instead resuming looking out at nothing. Ghosts never get to the damn point, Hurley thought.

"How's Ben?"

"Ben?"

"The man you asked to help you manage the island? Currently off on some vigil at the barracks?"

Hurley didn't bother to ask how Locke knew where Ben was.

"He's...fine, I guess? I mean, he's not evil anymore which is good?"

 This time Locke seemed to be smiling at some private joke. He turned and looked over his shoulder to a point above the dunes, seeming to see something Hurley could not.

 "Well, he certainly chose a nice spot, I'll say that for him."

"You, um, wanted to tell me something?"

Locke seemed to be pulled back his own thoughts.

"I thought you'd be more glad of someone to talk to, Hugo."

There was no malice in his tone. In fact, he sounded amused. That's how they're different, Hurley thought. He looks content. He doubted the other man had ever looked genuinely happy in his life.

"It's just..." he was tired of standing there like a spare part, awkwardness or not. He moved towards Locke and took a seat next to him on the rocks. "Look, I do, and it's nice to see you and everything, but it's kind of weird, dude. You look just like him. And to be honest, most of the time when you were actually alive bad stuff happened when you gave me advice."

Locke smiled again - if it had been another man Hurley would have thought it was self deprecating. "You don't need to worry about the other guy. I promise you, he's not coming back here. Ever."

"I kind of figured. But still. He was messed up. And kept trying to kill me which wasn't great."

"He was misguided. Seriously so. But he's gone now. And I'm not here to offer you advice, Hugo; I wouldn't presume. I had my shot, and it didn't exactly work out for me."

"So what do you want?"

"Just passing on a message."

"From who?"

"The island?"

"Oh, right. That."

"That. You and Ben, you have a lot of work to do. And you're going to need help to do it."

"You mean bringing people here - Look, no offense but I'm not sure I want to do that. Seems to me most people who end up here really don't want to. Except you, obviously."

Locke huffed something approaching a laugh. "Except me. But no, I don't mean bringing people here like Jacob did." _Plus Jack smashed the lighthouse to smithereens_. "That's not your way, and you run things now. People will still come, and people will still need what the island can give them. That's for later.  But there's someone _now_ who needs you, and who can help you in what you're doing here."

"I still don't really know what that is. Or if I want to do it."

"You'll work it out. And he'll help."

"Do I know this person?"

"You did, once. It's Walt."

"Walt? He's like...a kid."

"He's not so young any more. And he's alone. He needs someone who believes in what happened to him."

"I have to bring Walt back to the island?"

"I can't tell you any more, Hurley. You'll sort it out. All I can say is that Walt is special, and you and Ben need him."

"Special like you were special?"

"I wasn't special."

 

There was a moment of silence, punctuated only by the sound of the sea. _I kind of like you better now you're dead_ Hurley thought, but didn't voice. He figured politeness was important, even with ghosts.

"Me and Ben, huh?"

"You and Ben. Ben especially has some things to set right. He caused a lot of trouble with what he did to Walt."

"He...he killed Libby." 

"Indirectly, yes." Locke was looking at him. "But you forgave him, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

"Michael didn't have to do it. And Ben..." Hurley looked at his feet, wondering how to explain why he trusted this man who he had no reason to trust. "I don't know. It seemed like he had enough bad stuff happen to him. I don't really think he ever had time to learn how to do the right thing."

"Probably not. I'm sure he'll do better with you, if you give him a chance."

 

 _Why you?_ Hurley wanted to ask? _Why you and Charlie, and Ana Lucia and not Libby, never her._ But he knew from experience that the dead didn't answer questions like that. Still...

 

"I'm sorry that...I'm sorry about what happened to you."  _I'm sorry we all thought you were crazy, I'm sorry none of us ever bothered to like you, not really. I'm sorry you killed yourself._ It sounded ridiculous even in his head.

"Thank you. But it's ok, really. Things worked out how they were supposed to in the end."

"I really hope you're right, dude. You know, most times when this happens people don't want to just sit and talk. It's more sort of 'Hurley do this' and then poof."

"Well, maybe they don't like it here as much as I do."

 Locke sighed, and rose to his feet, slowly as if his legs were stiff from disuse. _Do ghosts get that?_ "Having said that, it's been very nice talking with you Hugo, but I'm afraid I must be going."

"You got stuff to do?"

"Something like that." He held out a hand to help Hurley up. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. Trust me."

"Yeah, well I'll think of you when I'm getting gored to death by a boar or whatever."

He realised he'd forgotten the rod. Bending down to pick it up, he heard Locke say, 'By the way, Mr Eko wants you to know, he’s missing those chess games of yours."

"What?"

 

But the other man had already vanished. _Figures_. Hurley wondered how he was going to broach the idea of finding Walt to Ben, whether they’d even be able to do such a thing. But for some reason, he didn’t feel too worried. He felt...lighter, than he had before the conversation, quite different to how the ghosts usually left him. Looking around for a good spot to begin fishing, he idly wondered if Ben played chess. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know that The New Man in Charge states that it's happening in 2010, not 2007 but a) the day it gives never existed (24/6/10 was a Tuesday) and b) I can't believe that Hurley and Ben would have left it three years to 'tie up loose ends' especially if it meant people still working for Dharma and the Island, neither of which seemed to be very caring employers, and leaving Walt alone (Hurley totally would have followed up on him even without a reminder). So am wilfully ignoring that, although you can believe it took three years for them to get round to following Locke's instructions, if you like. If 'taller ghost Walt' is an acceptable handwave then I'm fine with this one. :)


End file.
